With the public's ever increasing reliance upon electronic data, the integrity of that data is becoming extremely critical. Many present day systems attempt to guarantee the integrity of such data through encryption and complicated monitoring means. Although these systems are generally effective, they are often expensive and unnecessary in that they consume too much energy and/or use too many processor cycles. Additionally, those systems that include encryption technology often face export restrictions that delay or prevent the widespread proliferation of a developed technology.
For many applications, the secrecy of the data may not be as important as the integrity of the data or may not be important at all. That is, in some situations the data can be known to the public but should not be alterable by the public. For example, the fact that $10 is stored on a transit card is not important. The public can know this fact without any harm. However, significant harm will occur if the transit card is fraudulently changed to show a value of $100 dollars rather than $10.
Accordingly, a device and method are needed that store electronic data, guarantee the integrity of that electronic data, and guarantee the integrity of any changes to that electronic data in an efficient manner. Additionally, a device and method are needed for overcoming the other problems presently associated with securely storing and transmitting electronic data.